Minehead - Port of Call

By Charles Atkins

At the turn of the 20th century the holiday trade was developing and in 1901 a pier was built at Minehead to allow pleasure steamers to call independent of tides.

In Minehead – Port of Call, Minehead born local historian Charles Atkins charts the history of Minehead Pier from its initial planning to its dismantling in 1940 at the instruction of the War Office.

Original postcards and photos depicting the pier and attendant pleasure steamers add a poignant pictorial record of the lives of local residents and visitors alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781291824629

Charles Atkins

Charles Atkins, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist working in Waterbury, Connecticut. He’s on the clinical faculty at Yale University, where he trained. He has published over a hundred articles and columns as well as numerous psychological thrillers.

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Minehead - Port of Call

MINEHEAD – PORT OF CALL

The History of Minehead Pier

and

Paddle Steamers

by

Charles Atkins

Copyright © 2014 Charles Atkins

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-291-82462-9

+++

For Stanley and Elizabeth

Jack, Marjorie, Rosie, Alice and Minnie

All pier and steamer enthusiasts – past and present

And finally to Sean without whose help and encouragement

this book would not have seen the light of day.

MINEHEAD

‘Where Tall ships and seafarers plied trade across the sea,

And weatherbeaten fishermen spread nets out on the quay.

Those times are past, now pleasure cruisers ride the ocean waves,

To serve the trippers longing for adventure that he craves.

The romance of those far off days is easy brought to bear.

By quayside rails, in quiet mood, salt breezes, shingled shore.’

In Exmoor Countrie

by

Penny Housden

frontispiece_postcard.jpg

1 - Minehead Pier and Paddle Steamer. One of the murals at Townsend House, Minehead by the artist Ted Borrett

INTRODUCTION

For over 500 years men have sailed into the harbour guided by the light at the rood loft window in St. Michael’s Church tower.  Carved above the East window on the outside wall c1529 is a prayer for Minehead’s fishermen of long ago "We pray to Jesu and Mary – send our neighbours safety."

The earliest mention of a harbour dates from 1380 when weirage dues were collected for its maintenance.  Forty years later a ‘juttie’ was built by the Luttrell family – referred to as ‘le weir’ – at the mouth of the Bratton stream joining the sea at the end of Blenheim Road.  Trade grew fast and Sir Hugh Luttrell had a new harbour built which increased the capacity which in turn attracted more vessels. By 1543, Minehead came second only to Bristol among the Channel ports.

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth I granted a Charter raising Minehead to Borough status with a Port Reeve and Council.  Unfortunately numerous gales damaged the harbour and it was breached making it useable only by local fishermen.  In 1604 King James withdrew the Charter and returned the ‘overlordship’ to the Luttrells.

In 1616 a new harbour was built along the shore to the West which is the structure we see today.  In 1682 it was strengthened by bringing in a number of large rocks from Greenaleigh Point, some weighing more than a ton were floated by means of casks then piled on the beach behind the harbour to break the force of the waves, where they can still be seen.

By 1712 the harbour was twice the size with repairs to it in 1846 and 1870.  Earlier in 1862, because of navigational problems of the Bristol Channel and criticisms of both Minehead and Watchet harbours, it was suggested a new harbour be constructed at Greenaleigh using Gypsum from Blue Anchor to make concrete for the underwater work.  The idea was never taken up.

By the end of the century Mineheads reputation as a health spa and holiday resort was rapidly growing. A pier was built in 1900 to allow pleasure steamers to call independent of the tides. Paddle steamers of the Red, White and Yellow funnel fleets called regularly at the new Victorian pier. Sometimes as many as five steamers came to the landing stage on any one tide and bringing thousands of visitors to Minehead during the summer season.

In 1939 the pier was removed on instructions from the War Office.

CHAPTER ONE

The Case For Building A Pier

Steamers had been calling regularly at Minehead since the 1830s when the P.S. (Paddle Steamer) Lady Rodney of the Bristol General Steam Navigation Company made the first recorded landing. In 1834 a meeting took place at the Wellington Hotel, chaired by Mr W C Trevelyn, to raise capital of £4,000 in £25 shares, to float a company to run a Steam Packet service between Minehead and Watchet to Cardiff and Bristol. As only half the money was raised the project was shelved. From about 1850, a local visionary, Richard Date of Watchet had the idea of hiring steam tugs from Cardiff and Bristol for regular summer trips in the Bristol Channel. These trips were advertised in the West Somerset Free Press and by hand-bills and attracted large crowds to sample a day at sea.

During the 1860s and 1870s, Date advertised trips on such vessels as the Earl of Dunraven, Earl